Students receive honors for community service

A varsity letter is a prized possession for any high school student, but for five Notre Dame Regional High School seniors the letter is a symbol of more than 120 hours of community service each.

Seniors Chris Eddleman, Kristen Hinton, Kristin Enderle, Brooke Heischmidt and Jennifer Barrett all were presented with honor bars to add to their already earned varsity letters during the Mass for the feast of St. Francis Tuesday morning.

Most of these students received their letters during their sophomore year.

"Community service is a big part of the school," Enderle said.

Notre Dame students are encouraged by the faculty and principal Brother David Migliorino to participate in volunteer service projects in the church and in the community at large. The Christian Service Program started in 1993.

'A way of giving back'

"It's a different type of gratification and it's a way of giving back that is not centered on you like sports," Heischmidt said.

Eddleman said volunteering is something he would do anyway.

"We didn't do our service projects to get the letter. It's like I did the service, I may as well get the letter," Enderle said.

All of the students have volunteered at a number of places, not just the ones they turned in hours for.

"Get involved in all different kinds of things," Heischmidt urged. "I've got three hours from here and five hours from there."

Heischmidt volunteered at Maxine's Shareable Wearable through St. Vincent's parish. It is similar to Goodwill, except it is free, she said.

Hinton is interested in pursuing a career in pharmacy; she volunteered at Saint Francis Medical Center's pharmacy and distributed medicine throughout the hospital. She also reads to children at the Cape Public Library.

Barrett is a big sister in the Big Brothers, Big Sisters program. She chose the program because she likes little children and continued in the program this year because she wanted to keep her same sibling, she said.

Camp Renewal is where Eddleman spent a week volunteering this summer as he did last summer.

"I did because I thought it would be cool," he said. "I met a lot of fun people there."

Eddleman also read to preschoolers at ABC 123 day care.

Enderle's volunteer hours came from volunteering at Scott City High School's band program to help newer players learn their instruments. She plays flute at Notre Dame.

"It's a neat environment for people to learn their craft and go as far as they want to," she said.

While students at Notre Dame don't get letter jackets anymore, the letters are displayed prominently on bulletin boards, in scrapbooks and shadow boxes.

"Service is important to do whether or not it is required because it helps you too," Enderle said.

ameyer@semissourian.com

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